Beer in the new era

scandal! https://www.facebook.com/TGBREWS/posts/10152677687314735

xxp actual lol

nh dude has an easy to find blog if you want to stare into the abyss.

Anyone had Avery Tweak? Just picked one up. Only 17.81% abv.

beer liqueur!

saw that dogfish head world wide stout on tap somewhere recently too, kinda curious about what 18% abv tastes like

soy sauce

undrinkable imho

I thought 120 minute IPA was pretty drinkable considering it's also 18%

I couldn't even make it through a bottle of the 90-minute, and I like beers up to 10-11% if they're done right (see Ninkasi/Elysian's Hop Squash that's on draft in the PNW right now, 10.3%)

feel like dogfish is not even on my radar anymore, wonder if they are worth revisiting

not in my opinion

I enjoyed beer thousand.

Anyone had Avery Tweak? Just picked one up. Only 17.81% abv.

― Jeff, Wednesday, December 10, 2014 10:42 AM (1 hour ago)

I had it before the Bourbon Barrel variant about a month ago before they changed the name, it was fantastic.

The base beer (Mephistopheles) is ridiculously potent as well.

whoops, disregard the "it before" in the start of that post!

haven't enjoyed anything from dogfish head recently tbh, the flavors either seem to be too sweet (red & white, many of their boozier offerings) or just kinda off-the-mark (punk'n, that apricot one)

10 Barrel/AbInBev backlash begins, at least in the media (and in my wallet):

http://registerguard.com/rg/business/32539723-63/brewery-backlash.html.csp

Seattle goons, there is a new spot opening up on Eastlake next week called "Mammoth" run by the Bitterroot folks from Ballard. Looks pretty great, like a Chuck's Hop Shop with a full food menu.

After drinking a ton of skunked/ancient beers in NJ, I'm taking a break for a while.

So, evil twin has been pretty hit and miss, but at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, the Molotov Lite is the best IIPA I've had in years. It's perfect.

i really enjoyed the molotov lite, but i wouldn't call it one of the best i've had in years. i do prefer it to the other evil twin IPAs i've had tho. some ppl love Falco but Falco didn't bite hard enuff.

other IPAs i have been enjoying lately:
singlecut bon bon TNT 2xIPA (super delicious double IPA with NZ/Aussie hops. -- good on draft, but it's their first bottled effort and it is SO. GOOD.)
assorted Other Half IPAs such as Green Diamonds, "classic" IPA and Hop Showers
two roads "road to ruin" double IPA. very drinkable!!
schlafly "T" IPA (enjoy this a lot more than last year for some reason, can't explain why.)

also i could care less about getting rare beer; i don't have enough money to hoard beer. i drink it. i have a BCB barley wine from last year in the fridge still. i'll drink that some night and probably regret it instantly. those beers are just tooooo much for me, most of the time.

It takes years of practice, but everyone keep at it and you'll be downing high ABV bombers like its nothing.

i drank a bottle of last year's BCB barley wine just a couple of days ago and it was fucking phenomenal btw. not as overbearing as you might think.

xp

I was able to find two loosies of Firestone Walker Velvet Mocha Merlin stout brewed with Intelligentsia coffee today, it is supposedly only available bundled in a 4 pack of FW shelf stuff.

sixpoint bengali is a boring as shit IPA. probably the longest a six-pack was hanging out in my fridge, finally drank the last one tonight

I was at a 99 Cents Only store a few days ago and I was surprised to see they had some Mikkellers on the shelf. Ended up buying 4 bottles at 79 cents each, wondering why it was there. Had one last night, it's single-hop Pale Ale, this particular bottling with Palisades hops. Not especially good, but not dump-in-the-sink level either. I didn't see a date on it, maybe too old, maybe just a misfire from the start.

Also bought a couple Laotian beers in half-liter cans, haven't tried those yet.

sixpoint beers kinda blow

Huh I would sell a finger to get mikkeller for .79 cents a bottle, past date or no. What were the other 3?

sixpoint is pretty consistently disappointing to me. their imperial IPA is fine but there is no reason to buy it when there are just much better beers available.

what kind of 99 cent stores sell beer? insane.

Oh, the Mikkellers were all the same kind, but the text on the bottle indicated that have done this single hop thing with other hops. The store only had the Palisades.

One of the pasadena 99s sells beer and wine ($2.99/bottle for wine, the 99c isn't that strict any more). I bought a Rex Goliath white wine there too, never had it before but I've seen RG reds elsewhere for about $10.

Last time I was home visiting my parents the hippie co-op has a bunch of cheap Mikkeller ales but man they looked ollllld.

Bruery Smoking Wood Bourbon Barrel Aged: said a "hint" of smoke on the description but it was smoker than I hoped. Would have loved it w/o smoke.

Also I finally tired Dino S'mores, which was a hell of a lot better than I expected, got a lot of molasses flavor and only hints of the rest. Would totally have gotten two if I had not been driving.

*smokier xp

This season I made a point of not hustling to grab stuff, and I learned a valuable lesson: everyone else grabs it first. Was curious about the Avery Tweak, and knew a couple of places that had it. Was going to hit one last night but though, nah, I'll try for it the next day. And the next day? Gone. Got to be honest, beer guys at Binny's tweeting every special thing as soon as it's off the truck is like a fisherman throwing chum in the water.

Had my first Bell's Expedition Stout tonight, it was fantastic.

One of the many great beers available (at least locally) with no effort, an important thing to keep in mind whenever envy or frustration kicks in at all the special release stuff.

xp i was wondering why you were toasting my very old untappd check-in for that beer! it's a good one. every so often there are rumors that bells is going to start distributing here and i get irrationally excited.

My first trip to Bell's in Kzoo I got an "Eclipse", a Black and Tan of Expedition and Oberon, back when Oberon was summer-only and not so watered down. It was a beer turning point at the time.

Drinking the Tweak now. I like it. Even though it's 17.81 ABV, it doesn't really taste more than 17.43.

trying my first Ballast Point Dorado, pretty damn good, almost worth $8.50

had an amazing flight of Deschutes Imperial Black Butte the other night ('11, '12, '13, '14), so much figgy chocolate datey goodness

Wow 3F Alpha Klaus fuckin rules, goddamn.

Need to come up with a list of "Christmas" beers that do not taste like Christmas -- like Alpha Klaus, Celebration... what else?

Also Chicagolanders, has anyone had the Central Waters/Local Option La Petite Mort?

tell me about american-style session beers, lagers and pilsners that are drinkable

I had a good one from Toppling Goliath

low-alcohol beers i've been enjoying have all been goses and saisons

finally picked up the anderson valley goses - the one with the stupid name and the blood orange one. they are good, but not as good as the westbrook gose. also the cans are hideous, such terrible design

i am also super psyched by mystic brewing in chelsea, MA. their table saison was outstanding. they have tons of other weird and seasonal saisons that i need to check out. like their whole brewing approach

marcos otm re: goses

mh - idk if this qualifies as an "american-style" pils - as cad pointed out it is very true to the czech style - but the heater allen pils is phenomenal. also really dig the occidental kolsch and breakside's pilsner and post-time kolsch.

in general i think the "american" session stuff is crap though, a lot of bitterness without any of the floral/citrus/pine/pepper payoff. seems like all my favorite american session stuff is only american by name as opposed to style

berliner weisses and goses are definitely my low-abv drinks of choice these days. de garde just got their bu weisse into stores at $4.50 a bomber, only 2-3% abv and pretty delicious (if far from their best offering)

i scored some blood orange gose' recently - they were great imo

American session pales: If you ever get your hands on Russian River's Dribble Belt, it's one of the most delicious session pales I've enjoyed.

I echo the berlinerweiße & gose love in general but not this time of year, moreso in the hot weather. That said, I anticipate cracking a deGarde Hose (hopped Gose) this Thursday night. Also, I think the Anderson Valley goses are fantastic.

CW's La Petite Mort tasted very bourbon-y, basically it tasted like watered down bourbon with not a lot of beer flavors for balance.

Beer trade grammar insanity: "3F" should be reserved for Drie Fonteinen whereas "FFF" should designate "3 Floyds". tmyk!

I'm getting some Kuhnhenn Raspberry Eisbock this week, it's been highly recommended to me.

Speaking of session beer, I had one (1) single bomber of that "rare" bundle-only Firestone Walker Velvet Mocha Merlin brewed with Intellegentsia coffee and woke up to one of the worst hangover in many, many moons. 4.5% ABV has never treated me so poorly. Ready to permanently cross Firestone Walker shelf beers off my list.